On some tracks they cover themselves in sonic mud like the Pixies, on others they're as crystalline as Nick Drake. But while this Montreal band, headed by husband and wife team Win Butler and Regine Chassagne, hasn't yet settled into a sound, they're whip smart and productively wounded. Almost all of the songs are about death, and they're delivered with disarming fury.
Best Tracks: Neighborhood #2 (Laika), Rebellion (Lies), Wake Up
Come fly with us, and Leo, through the best (and worst) of 2004. Tops in the cinema this year include Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator. Elsewhere, Deadwood was good TV, and a Strange tale fascinated readers.